The Young Survival Coalition's Diversity Program aims to foster a committed, connected and diverse community for young women affected by breast cancer. The Diversity Committee brings together women of color, women who partner with women, women of various socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures and disabilities.

As a collective, this committee works to create programs and to establish partnerships to work towards ensuring that all young women affected by breast cancer, in all communities, have access to the information and support they need.

Specific topics include:

• Diversity
• Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender
• Asian
• Black/African Descent
• Latina

Unique Issues of Lesbian and Bisexual Cancer Survivors is a panel discussion hosted by the Young Survival Coalition and The Mautner Project. It is a free national teleconference to discuss the unique and various ways a cancer diagnosis affects young lesbian and bisexual women.

Feel free to join health care professionals and survivor advocates as they address various issues faced by young lesbian and bisexual women throughout their cancer experience.

Topics will include:

• Finding the support and resources you need
• Coming out to health care providers
• Tips on finding a culturally competent provider
• How chemotherapy may affect fertility
• Understanding fertility options for cancer survivors
• Coping with physical changes after cancer treatment

Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Time: 8:00 pm - 9:30pm ET

RSVP: diversity@youngsurvival.org or 649-257-3006

Upon registration you will receive a teleconference call-in number.

Two-time breast cancer survivor Tania Katan was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 21, and then again ten years later. With gutsy humor in an outlandishly candid expose, she faced cancer twice, dealt with a "supportive but neurotic family," swore off toxic girlfriends, wrote about her experiences in a book and performed a one-woman play, both called My One-Night Stand With Cancer.

Katan, who underwent a mastectomy each time she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and who appears naked above the waist in her back-of-the-book photo, ran a race to raise breast cancer awareness in the best form she thought possible -- topless. "People were racing for something very specific, to cure breast cancer, but they didn't want to see what breast cancer looks like."

On the Amazon webpage for her book, the description of My One-Night Stand With Cancer reads, "A Jewish lesbian's memoir loaded with humor. She survived to prove, perhaps, that laughter is in fact the best medicine. With lymph nodes negative and outlook positive despite lightning striking twice, this 10K runner shows great spirit and strength."

The Lesbian Community Cancer Project (LCCP) in Chicago has partnered with Howard Brown Health Center to ensure that everyone in the LGBT community has access to free or sliding scale health services. Howard Brown offers free clinical breast exams, mammograms, and pap smears to all low-income, uninsured women and is one of twenty community health centers in Illinois that participates in an early screening program for breast and cervical cancer.

The Gildas Club in Chicago is now in collaboration with the Lesbian Community Cancer Project and a support group just for the LGBT community. Membership and participation in all activities is free and begins by calling (312) 464-9900. The LGBT Wellness Group and the LGBT Family and Friends Group meets every Thursday night from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at Gilda's Club Chicago located at 537 N. Wells Street.

Lesbian women may be at higher risk of developing breast cancer than heterosexual women. Lesbians are often less inclined than heterosexual women to access conventional medical treatment due to lower economics, fear of discrimination and past negative experiences with health care causing them to avoid health care all together. Due to a lack of equal rights with partners that are insured, unlike heterosexual couples, many lesbians with lower income jobs that cannot afford individual insurance plans, can not join on the insurance policy of their partners.

There is no genetic difference between heterosexual and homosexual women that increases disease risk among lesbians but the lack of screening taking place within the lesbian community increases the chances that a woman will be diagnosed in more advanced stages of cancer. Then at later stages there are fewer treatment options. One other factor in the lesbian community is that women who have children after age thirty, or never at all, are at increased risk for breast cancer. It is believed that certain hormones released during pregnancy act as a preventative force against breast cancer. Studies show that lesbians are less likely than heterosexual women to have children, and therefore may be at increased risk. African American lesbians have the highest risk factors for breast cancer than any other group.

Like gay males, the lesbian and bisexual population tend to consume more alcohol and also smoke more than heterosexual women. Whether this is done as a tension reducer or for social interactions is not determined but addiction frequently follows and is associated with higher rates of cancers, heart disease, and emphysema which are the three major causes of death among all women.

So, Katie Couric is moving to CBS, and Meredith Viera, one of the ABC co-hosts of The View, accepted an offer to replace Couric at NBC. Which left Viera's job at ABC open. Who did Barbara Walters choose as the new co-host? Rosie O'Donnell. What are Walters and ABC thinking? Jerry Springer ratings steeped in controversy is all I can figure out.

Once upon a time, I was a Rosie O'Donnell fan. As a comedian, I thought she was funny. As an advocate for children, I thought she was generous. But she cancelled all that out the day she allegedly told one of her staff, who was battling breast cancer, that "liars get cancer," because apparently, O'Donnell was feeling even more mean-spirited than usual that day. To be accurate, during a lawsuit Rosie magazine publishers filed against O'Donnell for breach of contract -- Cindy Spengler -- who was head of marketing at Rosie magazine, testified that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying. "You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again.

Before that, I do not think the larger audience had any idea O'Donnell harbored such dark spite in her heart. The statement, while obviously appalling and unforgivable, is also stupefying considering O'Donnell -- at the age of 10 -- lost her mother to breast cancer. But no matter now, as to the why of it all. You can't unring a bell. I am not a huge daytime television viewer, but come September, you can rest assured, no one at my house will be channel surfing ABC. People has the bland noncommittal announcement of The View's choice for new co-host. The Boston Herald has a snarkier version of the story. As a breast cancer survivor, now you have mine. 

During National LGBT Health Awareness Week, March 12-18, the Howard Brown Health Center, the Lesbian Community Cancer Project and the University of Illinois at Chicago, are working together to gather information on the experiences and needs of cancer survivors across the country and around the globe. This is the first study to look at the combined experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cancer survivors. The information gathered from this survey will be used as a guide in the design of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cancer survivor research center, and to improve understanding of the special needs of cancer survivors. The investigators of this study will publish the results of this survey to make them available to community-based organizations across the country interested in better serving the needs of LGBT cancer survivors. The LGBT Cancer Survivor Survey takes about 30 minutes to complete online.